From the Flintshire Chronicle, full story here.

“THE Number six bus now arriving at Mold bus station is piloted by Mark Kearney.”

“Not too many holders of a Public Service Vehicle (PSV) licence also hold a pilot’s licence.”

Well, here’s another one! I’ve held a private Pilot’s Licence since 1993 for ‘Balloons and Airships’

Heaven knows why you need a Pilot’s Licence for balloons – a Master Mariners Certificate would seem to have more relevance because you’re powered by the wind and to carry out some manoeuvres rope pulling is involved. And just like sailing where all shipping gives way to sail all fixed and rotary wing aircraft must give way to a balloon.

I’ve virtually given up flying now but had 10 good years with mainly wonderful memories; lots of flying in France and Belgium every year, a winter trip to Schladming in Austria to fly over the mountains in the morning and then to ski them in the afternoon, competing in the Mobilux Championship in Luxembourg etc. And then what should have been a great honour (representing the UK in South Korea) a disaster in which one person died, another paralysed for life and one with severe burns. The competition was being held on Cheju, an island about the size of Jersey off the south coast of Korea in the Yellow Sea. It never looked like a good location in which to fly a balloon since the island had a 6,000′ volcano in the middle of it and the perimeter of the island (the only places to land) had lava rocks everywhere which were as sharp as razors. We were given Korean built balloons to fly and after I’d inspected mine I came to the conclusion that it would be a pig to fly and land and after about 6 flights I wouldn’t be considering it safe to fly again. Taken from here this is what happened.

“The 1999 Cheju International Balloon Fiesta in Korea, according to an article by Stan Wereschuk and Bill Arras, was an event that could best be described as “the event from hell”. The article described accidents resulting in serious injuries that had their root cause in poor planning, lack of cancellation by the authorities when the winds were obviously too strong for safety, and numerous safety deficiencies involving the equipment provided. Although contestants supplied their own burners, the baskets were poorly constructed for safety, envelopes were made in haste, and, possibly most serious, the propane hoses and connections were inferior and were not meant for ballooning.”

“A very serious concern early in event was the attitude of officials responsible for launch, who, according to the article, failed to cancel events despite strong winds gusting up to 20 kt. Most pilots had the good sense to question all the deficiencies and some of them used their superior knowledge of ballooning and cancelled when conditions
appeared unsafe. For those who flew, the spirit of the competition dominated their sense of self-preservation as they disregarded known weather hazards and flew under conditions that greatly increased the risk; numerous accidents and fires resulting in serious injuries and at least one fatality were the outcome.”

After the fateful briefing at which the Competition Director said “We’ll fly” I walked away from the briefing thinking “You may fly but I’m not going to”! Since we’d been given free travel to Korea, accommodation and food, banquets with high level government officials etc. there was some obligation to fly but I was determined not to fly since the conditions were appalling. The first person I spoke to after the briefing was Bill Arras an American, and at the time World Champion. I asked Bill if was going to fly. “No” was Bill’s answer. If he’d flown I’d not have changed my mind but I felt a little better since the best in the world had reached the same conclusion as me.

After that the Competition Director was arrested and the competition abandoned. I hired a car and with my crew had a weeks sightseeing in South Korea.